


Where Lilies Grow

by Legal_Assassin



Series: ShuHaru Week 2019 [5]
Category: Changeling: The Lost, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe- Changeling, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Changeling AU, Darkling!Joker, F/M, Fairest!Haru, Murder plotting, Past Abuse, Past Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Past Kidnapping, Shuharu Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 11:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18690841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legal_Assassin/pseuds/Legal_Assassin
Summary: For being one of the shiftiest people Haru knew, Joker was also the one she felt she could trust the most.





	Where Lilies Grow

**Author's Note:**

> Day 5 of ShuHaru week. The theme this time is AU/Song & Dance
> 
> I was going with one kind of AU, but found a prompt on the Kink Meme that requested something similar and I'm trying not to use these to fill prompts (it means more ShuHaru material). So I'm going with a Changeling: The Lost AU.
> 
> For those who don't know, Changeling: The Lost is an expansion of White Wolf's World of Darkness, an urban fantasy/horror tabletop RPG. In Changeling, players take control of changelings, people who were snatched up by the Gentry (less Disney and more Lovecraft) and dragged to Arcadia as their slaves. At some point, they escaped back to reality, but found that not only did their forms change from their durance but that going back to their old lives isn't as easy as they might have hoped.

"This one is new."

Haru spun around and stood up in one fluid motion, her spade gripped tightly in her hand. It wasn't much of a weapon, especially since it wasn't iron (she wouldn't risk iron near her crops), but it was better than nothing.

When she saw the pale, dark-haired and dark-clad figure by the entrance of her garden, she relaxed. "You really should give me more warning than that," she said.

Joker shrugged. "It's a habit," he said. "And it's kept me alive so far, so I'm not dropping it anytime soon."

There wasn't much argument there. Joker was perhaps the last Lurker since the Gentry purged them at the beginning of the 20th century. To last that long, he had to be the most cunning and the most stealthy of them all. If anyone knew he was there, it was only because he wanted them to know.

As Haru walked over to Joker, she watched him gently take the tiny, ruby red fruit of her garden's new addition into his hand and examine it. "What's this one?" he asked.

"Wineberry Blush," Haru said. "Supposedly, drinking a draught of these will absolve your sins."

Joker looked at her, his eyes boring into her. It was like he was looking right into her soul. "And is there anything you're planning on doing that would require absolving?" he asked.

"I like their color." Haru looked at the bush and its magenta leaves. "Not everything I grow here has to have a purpose beyond that, you know."

"And what about that?" Joker gestured to the hole next to the Wineberry Blush bush. It was a meter deep and two meters wide. "What do you plan on putting there?"

"I found a Bloodapple tree not too far away," Haru said. "It's young enough to be transplanted, and it would be useful to have around."

Joker pointed to her head. "You're growing orange lilies."

Haru reached up and plucked a petal from the crown around her head. It had the same sensation as plucking one of her hairs. She examined the petal. "Oh... I didn't realize..." she murmured, dropping it. It was one of the downsides to her new form; hiding her thoughts wasn't as easy as before. Though at least she no longer had her father to scold her for not having thoughts proper for a lady.

He was dead by his own hands now, after all.

Joker put his hands in his pocket, still watching her. "What's with the evasiveness?" he asked. "You know me. I don't give a damn about what the Courts might think. If it's something they can't find out, you can talk to me."

Haru pondered over that. Joker was right; the Courts wouldn't like what she was planning to do at all. But it still had to be done and she needed allies for this task. And despite his shiftiness, Joker was the most trustworthy person she ever met.

Some added insurance never hurt, though. It was a habit. But like Joker said, some habits kept you alive.

"I'll tell you, but you have to swear not to breathe a word to anyone," Haru told him. "Swear on your Keeper's name that you won't tell a soul. Not Ryuji-kun, not Futaba-chan, and not Mona-chan. No one must know." She held out a hand.

Joker took it without hesitation. "I swear on the name of my Keeper, the Master of the Slothful, I won't say a word of what you tell me to anyone," he said. "And if I do, may he personally come to drag me back through the thorns."

The hairs on the back of Haru's neck raised. The Wyrd had accepted the vow.

Haru took a breath, than sighed. She let go of Joker's hand. "Very well," she said. "I will tell you." She gestured for him to follow her through the garden.

She had claimed this space in the Hedge not long after she made it back to reality. Clearing away the thorns and finding goblin fruits to plant in the space was therapeutic for her. It was a familiar task even with the unusual flora, and one that she kept at. Now the hollow was filled with white trees covered with emerald vines that would wrap around and constrict anyone not covered in a perfume Ann helped Haru create, flowers with petals that changed color depending on the season, and vegetables that, when consumed, gave glamour instead of nutrients. Seeing how full it had become filled Haru with pride.

They stopped at a bench next to a crop of Jarmyn and sat down at it. "I was engaged before I was taken," Haru explained. "My father had arranged it. The man I was to marry was everything he wanted in an heir; intelligent, ambitious, shrewd. And I hated him. I swallowed my feelings, at first, as I didn't want to disappoint my father. But then my fiance..." She faltered. "... he... tried to have relations with me. And I turned him down. He told my father." She closed her eyes and swallowed the lump forming in her throat. "And so my father gave me to the Prince."

It was the clearest memory from before. Her father leading Haru out to the garden, her oblivious to the fate that awaited her, and the man waiting for them. "Handsome" wasn't quite the right word to describe him. He looked nothing like the actors or singers on TV. His features were longer and more angular and his bright green eyes had watched her without blinking. He was dressed like a fairy tale prince, with an emerald waistcoat that shimmered in a way Haru had never seen on silk or satin. There was something unnatural about his beauty, something that had put Haru on edge and made the primal part of her want to run.

But then a heavy scent of roses had washed over her. Her thoughts grew hazy and her limbs wouldn't move. The Prince wrapped an arm around her and it was like a vine was choking her, stopping any protest from leaving her lips. She remembered hearing her father and the man, whom she would come to know as the Prince of Roses and Briars, discussing something, but she couldn't remember the exact words. The Prince's fingers stroked her face, her lips, her hair. They were like petals on her skin and the haziness in her mind grew. He called her a lovely blossom, one that would be a fine addition to his garden. She had just enough clarity to wonder what that was supposed to mean. When the discussion concluded, the Prince picked her up and walked under the archway out of the garden and into the Hedge. Haru's father had said once last thing before she was gone from the world and she could remember that all too well.

"Make sure it is docile."

Those words wouldn't mean anything to Haru until she escaped the Prince's garden and saw what he made to fill the hole she left behind. The fetch looked exactly like her before she had been taken and even had her mannerisms down well. The only difference was that the Other Haru was far more submissive than Haru had ever been. The Other Haru let her new husband do whatever he wished to her without a word of complaint. The Other Haru didn't dirty herself in the garden. The Other Haru didn't sneak away to watch movies filled with blood and gore most people couldn't stomach. The Other Haru was only concerned with what her husband and Okumura Foods wished.

The Other Haru was exactly the kind of daughter her father had wanted.

Haru didn't realize she had been crying until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned, buried her head into Joker's coat, and wept. She wept for the life she had lost, the betrayal from the one who should never have let her come to harm, and for a secret she would not tell anyone else.

Joker said nothing. He just pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back until she had no more tears to shed.

When Haru was done, she pulled away and wiped her eyes. A few petals fell from her head and onto her lap. Red spider lilies this time.

"I'm sorry... that was uncalled for," she mumbled. "I... I've never told anyone before. I haven't thought back on it for the longest time..."

Joker smiled. Not his conniving smirk or his mischievous grin. Just smiled. "It's alright," he said. "Take your time."

Haru took a deep breath, then exhaled. She waited for the lump to clear from her throat. When she could no longer put off the inevitable, she spoke her secret.

"I've been in contact with my fetch."

If Joker was surprised, the only hint was that his smile disappeared. But he didn't look angry, so that was promising. "And?" he prompted.

Haru locked her fingers together over her lap and looked down. "I know I should have hated her the first time I saw her. The one who stole my life from me," she said. "But I couldn't. I can't hate her. When I looked at her, I saw what I would've become if I'd never been taken. And I felt sorry for her. I wanted to help her somehow."

"And what does she think?" Joker asked.

A small smile crept onto Haru's face. "She asked me to help her."

Because what neither the Prince nor her father expected was for the two Harus to meet. And like dry bush finding a spark, the Other Haru had found a desire for freedom and revenge ignited. It had been the Other Haru who, when they were meeting up at their usual spot in Inokashira Park, had broached the subject. "Sugimura is becoming frustrated," the Other Haru said. "No matter what we do, I won't conceive." Her mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "I suppose dead weeds, twine, and shadow can't bear a child."

"Do you think he'll...?" Haru had asked.

"He's already looking," the Other Haru had said. "It's only a matter of time before he tries something. He can't divorce me without losing Okumura Foods." She had looked at Haru and for the first time her eyes were blazing. "I need to strike first. We need to strike first."

They had made plans then and there. A murder charge hanging over either of their heads would be inconvenient, so Sugimura had to disappear. The Other Haru would prepare the stage and it would be up to Haru to play her part.

Joker's gaze flickered over at the hole. "I don't know much about goblin fruits, but I heard some need a corpse to be properly transplanted," he said. "Do you need help with gardening?"

Haru nodded. "I won't be able to move everything by myself," she said.

Joker stood up and offered her a hand. "It wouldn't be very gentlemanly of me to leave a lady to do all the heavy-lifting by herself," he said. "Let's go get that fertilizer."

Haru took his hand and stood up. Once she had dreamed of a prince sweeping her off her feet, but that dream had been twisted into a nightmare. One that would never leave her be.

But now, as she and Joker walked hand-in-hand out of her hollow and back into the real world, she thought that maybe what she needed all along was a thief.

**Author's Note:**

> The lore on Lurkers said that they were supposed to have been wiped out around the early 20th century, but the kith fits Joker so well that I decided to screw canon and go with it.
> 
> Haru was the easiest to figure out; it was either a Flowering Fairest, a Woodblood Elemental, or a Woodwalker Wizened. Fairest fit her best out of all of these, so I went with that.
> 
> Orange lilies in Hanakotoba (the Japanese language of flowers) means hatred and revenge. Red spider lilies mean lost memory, abandonment, and never to meet again.
> 
> I was originally going to have Haru take the Prince's offer to escape her life, but then thought having her father trade her would be more tragic and more in character for him.


End file.
